If you know me, you know I like to read. You name it, I read it. Books. Magazines. Newspapers. Online. Actually, I have a theory on book reading, which goes like this: if you don’t pay reasonable market value for it, you won’t be motivated to read it. It’s like a gym membership. With this in mind, I’ve put together an online shop of sustainable books, The Jetson Green Sustainability Bookstore, in case anyone is searching for good material on environmentalism. There’s a lot out there. Let me know if I left something out that you think merits inclusion. Here are the categories:

This isn’t a money maker for JG, I’ve never made more than $10 /quarter from Amazon…this is more intended to be a resource library for those of us at all levels in the journey towards living and working in a greener way. Again, let me know if I left a good book out. Also, I’ve gotten into Eco-Libris thanks to Victoria-E. Eco-Libris plants a tree for every book that you purchase an offset for. I’m not going to get into the offset controversy, but suffice it to say, I like the idea and will do it from now on.

I’m pleased to share some information and renderings on ELEMENT, Starwood Hotels & Resorts new extended-stay hotel brand set to open in 2008. The idea behind ELEMENT is to make smart choices intuitive and support the lifestyles of guests while they are away from home. ELEMENT Hotels performed research on guest behavior, which revealed that socially conscious hotel guests are more likely to leave their good habits at home when traveling. That’s because, depending on the hotel, it may be difficult to recycle, conserve water, or maintain a lower impact lifestyle. ELEMENT Hotels aims to change that. Key smart design features of this green hotel include the following:

Shampoo/conditioner dispensers will eliminate multiple mini-bottles;

Low-flow sink faucets and dual flush toilets will lead to an estimated conservation of 4,358.6 gallons of water per room each year;

Eco-friendly materials will be used throughout, including recycled content carpets;

Low-VOC paints for improved indoor air quality for guests and staff;

CFL light bulbs will be used throughout the building to reduce energy consumption; and

Biophilic design that maximizes natural light and sightlines to the outdoors will help connect occupants to their natural surroundings.

Feel free to click on over to this PDF brochure to read more about the ELEMENT Hotel and what it will look like. The hotel design is pretty incredible, as you will see from the images below the fold.

Unless you’re completely oblivious to what’s happening on Earth, you know there’s a world full of concerts going on. Live Earth. With some things, I like to exercise a modicum of skepticism to make sure I know my feelings on the issue. I was slow to come around to Live Earth. I mean, I love a good concert. I’ve seen DMB in concert multiple times. I respect many of these artists for their tireless contribution to musicality. But, I popped open the Live Earth Global Warming Handbook and here’s Tip #45: Take a Bath Together. How am I supposed to take this book seriously? What is this, some silly excuse to get it on? Well, I kept reading. Tip #45 talked about low-flow toilets and a future world with water shortages. Water heating can take up to 25% of a home’s energy use. I decided I should change my attitude and bought the book. To take the words of one of the greatest musicians (and I mean musicality when I say that), John Mayer:

To the journalists who will lay in wait for the perfectly maligned moment of hypocrisy, you will probably find one if that’s how you want to spend your time. Just use this as a measuring stick; give Live Earth’s initiative at least as much benefit of the doubt as you’ve given to the iPhone, or a new Radiohead album…Sure, if I wanted to be cynical, I could pose the question as to what happens if the biggest concert on Earth takes place only to hear the world respond with a resounding "that’s nice, but have you seen the cat that plays piano on YouTube?" But all I feel going into Saturday afternoon is hope. And lots of it.

Point well taken. I’m watching Live Earth highlights of what looks like Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, Ludacris, Jack Johnson, and maybe the Pussycat Dolls? I’m also thinking this event should raise the world’s awareness of the low hanging environmental fruit. Plastic bags, CFLs, Junk Mail, etc. I’ve spent the last 2-3 hours reading through David de Rothschild’s Global Warming Handbook and there’s some good leads here. Here’s some content relevant to the scope of Jetson Green,

I read an excellent article about San Francisco’s Clipper House by LORAX Development in Solar Today magazine and wanted to share some info about it. The Clipper House has become a showcase for residential sustainable features, basically showing off everything but the financial case for green building. The 2,600 sf home was designed by John Maniscalco/Architecture, Inc., and was completed in the summer of 2006. For a cool $1.9 M, you could probably purchase this incredible home–often referred to as the Greenest Home in San Francisco.

With all this discussion about the Senate Energy bill and renewable energy, I thought it was time to kick in and enunciate the ways property owners can elect to greenify, greenize, or make clean by going green, their property’s energy mix. Generally speaking, there’s wind, solar, biomass, small hydro, and geothermal–all of which are considered ‘green.’ But there’s also nuclear, which is not green because of the radioactive waste; coal, which is not green because of the GHG issue; and natural gas, which burns cleaner than coal but also has GHG issues. The American grid relies on all these sources of energy, some more than others, and governmental regulations will impact the way the game is played. Nevertheless, here are three things that a building owner can do now to greenify the energy mix.

Purchase Grid Connected Green Power from Participating Suppliers – roughly 600 regulated utilities offer green power. Here, it’s a matter of getting in touch with the right utility company that can service your property and setting up a purchase of green power. It might be a little more expensive…

Install On-site Green Power Generation – there’s been some talk of a federal "net-metering" standard, but until that point, we’re dealing with a piece-meal system of net-metering. Check your locality. Netmetering allows you to send excess electricity into the grid and run the meter backwards. It feels good when the bills are low. Every building is different, so one must be diligent to determine what green energy source would work for your location.

Purchase Renewable Energy Certifications (REC) – this discussion can get rather detailed, so I’m not going to get into this, but we’re talking about offsets here. All I can say is be careful about who you choose to buy these things from. If you’re careful, you can make sure the money actually goes to support investments in the right kind of green power. I’d even suggest exhausting #1 and #2 before working with this alternative.

Again, location to location, some green energy sources are better than others. Be smart about it. These three steps apply to all types of buildings (residential, commercial, etc.). Also, remember the cardinal rule of energy usage: conserve first, green second, offset third™. Also, check this incredible article in Buildings magazine called "Green Power’s Future is Now." It’s an excellent article and what I used to frame this post. Img.

This is unusual, but incredible, in a weird way. The Science Barge is a sustainable urban farm powered by solar, wind, and biofuels, and irrigated by rainwater and purified river water. It’s a mobile illustration of growing food in the city with no pollution or carbon emissions. Check the solar panels and small wind turbines. I’m thinking this is another illustration of the savvy behind solar and wind power for residential use. Via Archidose.